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Brave

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Brave, Pixar's 13th feature-length film, is their first journey into the Fantasy genre (of the Fairy Tale kind), and their first with a female protagonist. It tells the tale of a Rebellious Princess named Merida in the mythical Scottish kingdom of DunBroch, who wants only to live as freely as she desires. Her father, the rough and boisterous King Fergus, has an eternal grudge against all bears since he lost his left leg to a demon bruin named Mor'du. Her mother, the restrained and graceful Queen Elinor, wants her to marry the eldest son of the head of one of the three neighboring clans, all brought together under her rule. When the mother and daughter have a falling out, Merida encounters a mysterious witch in the forest and buys a spell to change her mother, hoping to reverse her decision on the marriage. Said spell has unforeseen consequences for Merida and her family, leading to a race to undo it before the damage becomes permanent.

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While in development, the film was calledThe Bear and the Bow, and was originally directed by Brenda Chapman (The Prince of Egypt), but she was replaced by story artist Mark Andrews and Steve Purcell. Chapman, who is Pixar's first female director, has a co-directing credit.

Provides examples of:

During the tournament, Wee Dingwall handles the bow as if he's never touched one before the tournament. When Fergus gets tired of making fun of him, he screams for him to "Shoot, boy!" and Dingwall jumps and looses his arrow — into a perfect bull's-eye. Everyone is understandably shocked.

When Merida recounts the story of the four lords banding together to save Scotland from invaders.

Merida: And we all know how Lord Dingwall broke the enemy line—

Macintosh: With a mighty throw of his spear!

Dingwall: I was aiming at you, you big tumshie!

Action Dress Rip: Merida during her archery contest. Rather than the skirt, it's the shoulders and back that get ripped when she deliberately flexes to overcome the restrictive clothes. It gets further shredded after she is thrown off a horse and runs through the forest.

In the beginning, when Fergus sees the giant demon bear Mor'du bearing down on his wife and young daughter, who are completely defenceless, when they'd been feeling completely safe, or what Elinor must have felt taking Merida and running away on horseback, leaving her husband and his men behind to fight the bear, with no way of knowing the outcome until after the whole affair.

Though long since over it by the time the main length of the movie occurred, Queen Elinor was probably quite distraught over her husband suffering loss of limb at the hands of Mor'du.

The scene where Fergus finds Elinor's torn dress... just think what awful scenarios he must have been imagining.

Running into the tapestry room and finding what looked like the same bear who killed Elinor attacking his daughter.

Merida is down in the abandoned castle and Mor'du shows up and tries to kill her. Elinor is helpless to protect her daughter who is trapped with this bear because she cannot fit through the hole.

The whole scene where Mor'du is relentlessly pursuing Merida and manages to trap her beneath him, snarling straight into Merida's face as he prepares to rip her apart and then likely eat her. And Fergus is lying off to the side, unable to reach his daughter in time to save her. It's this act that finally makes bear Elinor go ballistic and square off against Mor'du in a battle of Mama Bear vs. Evil Bear. The entire sequence is an amazing showcase of a frightened and vengeful mother desperately trying to protect her child from one of the most dangerous creatures in existence.

What both Elinor and Fergus may have thought after realizing that they had sent their tiny daughter into the woods to fetch the arrow, alone, defenceless, with that very same giant bear stalking her the entire time, where he could have attacked and killed her without their knowledge.

When Merida runs off after the fight with her mother, her mother is clearly very relieved to see her again and voices that she had no idea when she'd be back or if she was all right — after all, her daughter was running on horseback in the woods, roamed by a monster bear, without her bow or any kind of protection. Even without the threat of a bear attack, there's still the fact that she could be hurt or killed in many other ways out there on her own, such as being thrown by her horse and injured with no one to help her. She was thrown, but thankfully wasn't harmed.

Elinor is hesitant about leaving the castle temporarily because she doesn't want to leave the triplets behind. Merida assures her they'll be fine. And they are...except they decide to sample the magic bear pie.

Aesop Enforcer: The witch serves as an Enforcer to both Merida and Mor'du. Considering how Mor'du's story wound up, she either thought that granting Merida's request would release Mor'du and end well for her, or just didn't care.

Ambiguous Situation: At the end, did Elinor transform back to a human because the sunlight had to shine on the tapestry before it'd work ("mend the bond" literally), or did she transform because Merida finally acknowledged that she was the cause of her mother's predicament and tearfully told her she loved her ("mend the bond" metaphorically?) Or were both needed?

Amplified Animal Aptitude: Regular example: Angus the horse. The other examples were magically enhanced: the witch's crow, Mor'du the demon bear, and the enchanted Queen Elinor, also a bear.

Anachronism Stew: Where to begin? The film is meant to portray a medieval fantasy Scotland, so The Time of Myths can be easily invoked. That being said, there are references to recently fighting both the Romans (5th century at the latest) and the Vikings (8th-11th century), and there's a hodgepodge of features (clothing, weaponry and the like) from a wide range of eras.

The tartan (15th-16th century), kilt (18th century)note Scottish clans have been wearing kilts in the style as seen in the movie since the 16th century. Wearing the kilt was outlawed in the mid 18th century after some rebellions, and was re-legalised near the end of that century, just in time for it to be romanticised by Sir Walter Scott and woad warpaint (Iron Age); forks and tea (didn't make landfall in Britain till mid-17th century); Highland games (19th century, and Canadian); bagpipes (14th century)note Originating in such Middle Eastern countries as Turkey, Persia, Mesopotamia, and later found in Spain, Portugal, and throughout Eastern Europe; the carnyx (Iron Age) and bears (extinct in Scotland since the 9th-10th century at the latest) at the same time.

The sleeves on Merida's dresses are too tight to have existed before sewing technology developed in the 14th century (unless she sews them up each morning), and the slashes on the shoulders and elbows are a fashion of Renaissance Italy.

One mainly justified through Rule of Funny: the witch uses a welding mask when making the spell.

The castle has features not introduced until the very end of the medieval period, yet looks like it's been there for centuries.

Animation Bump: The film is technically very impressive and improves on several aspects of Pixar's already impressive 3-D technology. They even rewrote their entire animation system for the first time ever.

Animorphism: Merida purchases a spell from a witch that will "change" her mother ... into a bear.

Annoying Arrows: Merida's arrows don't do much to Mor'du, who has arrows and weapons sticking out of his skin from all the other warriors he has faced. Mor'du isn't just a normal bear.

Appropriate Animal Attire: Played with. After the mother turned into a bear she covers herself in a blanket. Merida notes that this is unnecessary as she is covered with fur.

Arranged Marriage: The sons of the three lords compete in the Highland Games for Merida's hand in marriage. She prefers her freedom and does not want to get married yet, so she sabotages their chances by entering and winning the archery contest. And at the end of the movie the three suitors reveal that they weren't exactly thrilled at the idea of getting married just yet either. It's not so much Merida doesn't want to marry at all as she doesn't want to get married now at fifteen and she doesn't want to marry a stranger. It turns out that her potential husbands feel exactly the same way. The idea of getting acquainted with Merida first clearly appeals to all three.

Ate the Spoon: The cauldron full of goop from which the witch's spell-cake is made dissolves the instrument she used to make it. No wonder she doesn't like brewing it.

Badass Family: Merida is a peerless archer, Fergus a seasoned warrior and leader, and the boys are a team of cunning ninjas. Elinor seems to be the odd one out as her strength is in communication, then you see her Strolling Through the Chaos.

Badass Fingersnap: The Witch does all of her non-potion related magic with snaps, up to, and including, summoning a horde of flying knives, axes, and other sharp implements to threaten Merida.

Baleful Polymorph: Queen Elinor and the triplets are turned into bears, just as previously happened to the prince that became Mor'du.

Bar Brawl: The three lords and their clans gather at the castle for the Highland Games, in which their sons will compete for the right to Merida's hand in marriage. At some point a massive fight breaks out (including biting and at least one purple nurple). Fergus makes a feeble attempt to defuse the situation before diving into the fray, leaving Elinor to restore order.

Bears Are Bad News: The demon bear Mor'du, who is described by Pixar as "Moby-Dickon land". The curse threatens the kingdom by changing Elinor into a bear — and a target for those aware of this trope.

Beary Funny: The triplets, when turned into bears, still remain comic relief characters.

Bloodless Carnage: None of Mor'dus wounds bleed and none of the huntsmen he attacks even receive any visible wounds.

Both Sides Have a Point: One of the main points of the movie; Queen Elinor insists that having Merida do an Arranged Marriage with one of the clan lords' sons is necessary for the kingdom's growth and stability. While being unreasonable, she still has a point, especially when Merida's Loophole Abuse nearly launches the clans into war. She also points out that sometimes it DOES go pretty well and can blossom into a loving relationship (like Elinor and Fergus') At the same time, Merida is righteously upset that she wasn't told about the betrothal until the day before it happened, she's still fairly young to even consider marriage at that time in her life, and she still wants a bit of freedom from society's expectations of her. Added to the fact that Merida is downright terrified of the idea, it's hard to blame her for her attempt to get out of it. A key factor in their reconciliation and freeing Elinor from the curse is both of them realizing that the other has legitimate points about their views on both the matter and their ways of solving conflicts. The diplomacy skills that Elinor taught Merida during the princess lessons allows her to pacify the clan lords and restore peace, while the fighting and survival skills Merida taught Elinor in bear form allows her to defeat Mor'du for good. Furthermore, Elinor allows Merida to break tradition by suggesting that the first-borns of the clans should be allowed to choose to marry whoever they want when they're ready for it, something which the clan lords consent to.

Brave Scot: They're Scots. And they're brave! And the movie is called Brave! Certainly they're not shy about fighting bears.

Early in the movie, Merida says she will buy all the carvings in the witch's house. After the credits, the witch's crow comes up to deliver all of them. The shocked guard who receives the delivery is the same one the boys were picking on earlier when they cut off his moustache. And once again, he's sleeping on the job.

After Elinor's turned into a bear and struggles to cover herself with something, Merida rolls her eyes and tries assuring her mom that she's fine—as a bear, she's covered in fur, so Elinor technically isn't naked. But when the Queen's finally returned to her human form, she and her daughter realize that she's totally naked under the tapestry, and Elinor has to gently break the news to Fergus that she's naked under her blanket.

In the beginning of the film, there is a short scene where Fergus is shown adjusting to his new wooden leg by fighting. In that scene, a man swings his sword at the wooden leg, only for the leg to stop the blade. in the climax, Merida does the same move, although this time it is successful.

Bright Castle: Castle DunBroch◊ is magnificent, though it looks more like a fortress than the traditional fairy tale variety. It helps that when the team at Pixar went to Scotland, they made sure to study Scottish Castles which Castle DunBroch is a near picture perfect recreation of in terms of building style; less extravagance, more utility.

Cant Get Away With Nothing: A more comedic version—Merida's little brothers never get caught during pranks while Merida can never catch a break.

Carrying a Cake: If there are sweets in the area, the triplets will steal them.

Cassandra Truth: Fergus doesn't believe in magic. Nor does he believe Meridas belated explanations that the bear in the castle is actually his wife.

Central Theme: Reconciliation. It's the focus of the Curse Escape Clause, at the center of the personal conflict between Merida and Elinor and also the key to the climax between the four clans.

Merida uses some of her hated lessons (public speaking and history) to excellent effect late in the film.

One of Merida's not-so-hated skills, archery, is used to help Elinor survive in the wilderness, proving archery's value.

Also, the ability to climb stone walls while wearing a heavy woolen dress. Anyone who had tried simply WALKING in one of those things can appreciate just how much of a skill this truly is especially when they are being chased by a demon bear.

Child Marriage Veto: Merida doesn't want to be married, so she pulls some Rules Lawyer stuff to get out of it by choosing a feat of Archery marksmanship as the contest, and then entering the contest, in which only the firstborn of each clan may compete. Fortuitously Merida is firstborn, and also a master archer.

"I am Merida, first-born descendant of clan DunBroch, and I'll be shooting for my own hand!"

Circle of Standing Stones: Merida keeps being drawn to a area with several stone columns forming a circle, and encounters Will-o-wisps. Angus is so spooked by the place he refuses to go through it. It is also where the curse on Elinor and Mor'du is broken.

"I don't want to get married, I want to stay single and let my hair flow in the wind as I ride through the glen firing arrows into the sunset!"

Compressed Hair: It is nothing short of miraculous how Queen Elinor manages to tuck all of Merida's profusely curly, waist-length hair under a small wimple that barely bulges and, when Merida reveals herself at the archery tournament, her hair flows as freely as if it had never been subjected to the accursed wimple.

Continuity Cameo: The royal family appears in car form on a tapestry inside a pub in Cars 2. Here◊ is the pic as it appeared in Cars 2, and here◊ is how it looks in Brave.

Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Wee Dingwall appears dim at best, but when the fights break out he's a fierce and almost psychotic fighter. Almost like a berserker in fact. The name comes from the words for "bear shirt" (that is, the clothing they wore into battle), which means it just might be intentional.

Cue the Sun: Played with. The sun rising after the terrible, stormy night is symbolic of the defeat of Mor'du and the end of his curse but it's also a moment fraught with worry because of the need to change Elinor backbefore it happens. So it's both a relief and suspenseful.

Curse: A "beastly curse" is unleashed on the land as a result of Merida's wish, specifically Queen Elinor being transformed into a bear.

Interestingly, in a short film on the DVD, the witch explains more of the back-story for Mor'du and how he was given a similar clause. She made a small cauldron for him, which he could use to gain the strength of ten men as he wanted, or he could instead use it to heal the rift he caused within his family. As you can probably guess, he chose the former, slaughtered his brothers, and then his own men either turned on him, or fled in fear because they only saw a beast, not their leader. So unlike Merida, he ended up destroying his kingdom due to his wish to change his fate.

Darker and Edgier: Lee Unkrich has described the film as a "very gritty adventure", darker and more mature in tone than the typical Disney Princess movie. The trailer also breaks Pixar's tradition with funny gag-based teaser trailers and Audience Alienating Premises, setting the audience up for a story akin to that of a traditional High Fantasy. Still, they're mind-bogglingly aimed at the youngest crowds, choosing to focus on the comic relief and completely hiding the true premise of the movie, possibly because of its darker and edgier roots.

Death Glare: Merida and Elinor do this to each other right after the last arrow hits the bull's-eye.

To Rebellious Princess. While Merida's frustration at society's expectations of her is treated sympathetically, the negative consequences of her headstrong and selfish backlash are what set the plot in motion, forcing her to atone for her actions and find a compromise between her desires and her responsibilities. Bad things can happen to her kingdom if a princess doesn't take her responsibilities seriously.

Screw Destiny, too. "Changing one's fate" is not as simple as finding a loophole or asking for a spell; in real life, this sort of thing is complicated and there are serious consequences for doing it incorrectly. Merida's true journey will be centered not just on flipping the bird to rules and tradition and getting away with it solely because she's The Protagonist, but on seeing that forging one's destinyis more complex than one thinks and that you must face both the pros and the cons of such decisions.

Dedication: When Mor'du is killed towards the end of the film he turns into a will o' the wisp and we realise that they are the spirit of the dead. During the credits a will o' the wisp appears over the credit "dedicated with love and gratitude to Steve Jobs, our partner, mentor and friend."

Defrosting Ice Queen: Elinor may be a non-romantic version of this trope for Merida. A great deal of their problem was that Elinor is very prim and proper and exceedingly frustrated that Merida isn't; both of them have to change by the end but Elinor is notably much more relaxed in the end.

Deuteragonist: Although it's not given in the advertising, the movie's tale is just as much about Elinor learning to understand her daughter's perspective as it is about Merida learning to own up to her actions and face her (eventual) duties.

Did Not Get the Girl: Refreshingly, this is a Disney Pixar film in which the princess doesn't want to be "got" and succeeds in remaining single.

Did Not Think This Through: Merida demands a spell from the witch that will change her mother, Elinor in order to make Elinor forget about Meridas betroyal. Merida doesnt even give herself time to consider the actual consequences for the spell. She cant even assume that shes asking for a spell that would transform her mother into an animal or creature. Without heeding the witch warning, Merida jumps straight to her conclusion.

Witch: Youre sure you know what youre doing?

Merida: A spell to change my mom.

Disney Death: A variation where instead of physically dying it looks like Elinor has permanently become a bear in addition to her mind becoming bestial. Of course, everything turns out okay at the end thanks to The Power of Love.note or due to a Delayed Reaction, depending on the interpretation.

The men nearly starting a war due to their own poor impulse control is Played for Laughs. Merida nearly starting a war due to her own poor impulse control is Played for Drama.

Likewise, Fergus is shown to be just as bad at running affairs of state as his daughter Merida (since she takes after him), but while he has the luxury of pawning off his royal duties to his wife and enjoy all the perks of being king (endless hunting, feasting, fighting, etc) while dealing with few to none of the responsibilities, Merida has no such luxury and is forced by her mother and the narrative to suck it up and learn the responsibilities hoisted on her by her birth and gender whether she likes it or not.

Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: In the climax, Fergus punches the immortal demon bear in the face, but this only serves to enrage the beast. [The one who finally takes him down is Elinor.

Dramatically Missing the Point: Up until the last few seconds, after Elinor seems to have turned permanently into a bear in body and mind, Merida assumes that the tapestry is what needed to be mended as "torn by pride", and not her relationship with her mother and changing her attitude toward the situation from blaming the witch to blaming herself. Although it may be worth noting that the transformation back didn't happen until the sunlight actually fell across the re-stitched tear in the tapestry...and this in turn happened right after Merida's change and declaration. Whether this was mere symbolic coincidence or if there really was a connection between the tapestry and Merida's actions is up to the viewer to decide. It's true metaphorically inasmuch as Merida repairing the tapestry to save her mother's life made her realise that in spite of everything, she still cared about her mother and desperately wanted to repair the relationship between them, but how much of which was necessary for the magic is not stated.

Dying Declaration of Love: When mending the tapestry to reverse the spell doesn't seem to work, and Elinor will be a bear forever Merida reaffirms her love for her.

Empty Piles of Clothing: After the spell takes effect, Elinor's torn robes are left on the floor of her room. When Fergus eventually discovers this, he goes ballistic.

Enemy Mine: The quest to find Elinor and hunt down Mor'du unites the four hostile clans.

Enemy Rising Behind: After Merida realizes the prince from her mother's legend is Mor'du, she then realizes that said bear has appeared behind her.

This concept art poster◊, which makes it appear that Merida is hunting while being stalked by a bear. She's actually protecting it.

Engagement Challenge: A contest is set up for the hand of Merida as part of tradition. Merida does not approve. She tries to fight it by competing in the contest for her own hand. She wins.

Escapism: Merida rides her horse, practices her archery and does anything she can to keep her mind off what she considers the boring lessons her mother is teaching her regarding etiquette and managing a kingdom. Things come to a head when time catches up with her and she has to actually deal with matters head-on.

Everything's Better with Princesses: Played with; in a refreshing twist, being a Princess is shown for what it is, a position of future power that requires genuine work and training as opposed to being simply free to do as one pleases, or no-strings luxury.

When Elinor dresses Merida for the presentation, she shoves her hair into a wimple. It's fairly bursting at the seams, just like Merida's personality. When she defies her mother, she ditches the wimple and announces herself by pulling her hood off and revealing her wild, loose locks.

By the end of the movie, Elinor has let her hair down from its former tight braid into hanging loosely down her back. This is a subtle indication that she's mellowed out.

The Fair Folk: The Wisps, are supernatural folk. They're said to have the power to change fate. They're frequently shown leading Merida away from danger. Twice they lead her away from Mor'du and towards help before she even knows he's there. They also lead her to the ruined castle so she can learn the truth about the legend of the princes, and the true danger of the spell, and in the end they lead her back to the stone circle so she can save her mother. If not benign, they are at least fairly neutral.

Feminist Fantasy: The film stars Merida, a Rebellious Princess that is something of a tomboy. She's an exceptional archer, as well as skilled at horseback riding and rock climbing, and constantly battles with her strict, traditional mother. The story focuses on the relationship between mother and daughter, as an arrange marriage and a curse forces them to work together and begin understanding one another better. Merida comes to see her mother's quiet strength, and the heavy responsibility she shoulders as both a mother and a Queen. Meanwhile, Queen Elinor comes to respect her daughter's independence and decides against forcing her into a political marriage. As a literalMama Bear, she faces down and defeats a monster bear in order to protect her husband and children. The curse is lifted once Merida is able to accept her mistakes, and reconcile with her mother. The political marriage is called off, with both Merida and her suitors declaring that they want to Marry for Love and the relationship between Elinor and Merida strengthened considerably.

Feuding Families: The three lords don't get along with each other and are the leaders of their respective clans. It's up to the royal family to keep the feuding from escalating into war.

Flashback Cut: When Merida falls into the ruin cave and learns about Mor'du's past, there is a quick flashback to the scene where she tore the tapestry.

Flirtatious Smack on the Ass: Fergus does this to Elinor in the first scene just as Elinor is berating him on giving Merida her first bow, causing her to jump briefly in surprise and giggle. Clearly, they are still...interested in each other after their first born.

Food as Bribe: Merida gets her brothers to help her and Bear!Elinor get out of the castle by offering to let them have all her desserts for three weeks. When this is met with a hard look, she revises the offer to a whole year of her desserts. They help her out after that.

At the abandoned castle, Bear!Elinor knocks over a large rock to keep Mor'du from getting her daughter.

When Merida is leading her mother upstairs after feeding her the enchanted cake, there is a shot where the two of them are framed right behind the stuffed bear Fergus was using for target practice on the throne.

The three bear sculptures the witch tries to sell Merida all foreshadow the following major events of the story:

The sculpture of two bears playing with a box that the witch describes by saying, "Add a touch of whimsy to any dark chamber" represents the comedic "whimsy" of Elinor moving through the castle immediately after she turns into a bear.

The second sculpture of a bear catching fish represents the scene in which Merida teaches Elinor to fish.

The third sculpture of bears recreating the creation of Adam from the Sistine Chapel represents Mor'du and Elinor both reaching their paws toward Merida as she tries to escape the ruins.

The four (present-day) lords can't get along at all. "You saved me!" "I was aiming for you!" (laughter)

Averted with Merida and her three younger brothers. They are all shown to be very close and loving with one another, if a little manipulative when it comes to desserts, which is in direct contrast with the four princes of legend.

Just after the throne room brawl between clans, a sheep flies through the air behind Lord Fergus's shoulder.

When Lord Dingwall's son hit the bull's-eye, Lord Dingwall does a victory dance ending with him mooning the other two lords... and two little kids next to their mother in the crowd, causing the little girl to put her face into her mother's dress and start to cry.

Futile Hand Reach: Merida, while locked into her room by her father, reaches from her window towards her mother as the latter flees the castle.

Gag Boobs: Maudie, the castle maid, who has a cleavage in which you could quite literally lose a bear cub.

At the end after Queen Elinor turns back to a human, she wears nothing but the fabric that was needed to undo the spell. She announces quietly that she is naked to Fergus. His reaction? He proceeds to look her down with a perverted smile on his face. Her following reaction to tell him not to stare at her and do something (other men being around) sells it completely.

When Merida goes back to the stone circle, only to fail to find any wisps, her mother immediately begins following the direction Merida said she'd gone to reach the witch's cottage, logically assuming that, barring magic being used to conceal the path, it should still be there. Once Merida begins recognising landmarks, she immediately acts as if physically retracing her steps was her idea, and upon finding the cottage again cries, "I did it, I found it!" Her mother's expressions throughout all this are priceless.

When Merida gives Elinor's decision to let her marry for love instead of station, Lord Macintosh starts to exclaim how stupid the idea is. After everyone else agrees it's a wonderful idea, he changes his tune and claims "I'm glad I thought of it".

Gray Rain of Depression: During their night in the ruins of the witch's cottage, after Merida has learned her rash act of obtaining a spell to change her fate has possibly doomed her mother to live forever as a bear.

Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Played straight for most of the movie where Merida's weapon of choice is the bow and arrow, while male characters mostly use swords. There is one scene, though, which shows Merida is a pretty good swordfighter, too. Also, Elinor mixes it up in bear form.

One of the triplets drops his head on the dinner table while listening to Fergus retell his encounter with Mor'du. It would seem that the king is more impressed with the story than his sons are.

When Bear!Elinor discovers that the berries she got were nightshade berries and the water was full of worms, she drops her head on the makeshift table, causing it to go flying.

Heroic Resolve: During the climax Elinor bear is helplessly tied down by Fergus' men but once she sees Mor'du attacking Merida, she goes into Mama Bear mode providing her with the extra strength to break herself free to save her daughter and Fergus from the dreaded bear Mor'du.

Holding the Floor: In order for Bear!Elinor to get into the castle and retrieve the torn tapestry, Merida has to distract her father and the lords, who are all at the point of starting a war. She essentially fills in for the queen by giving an eloquent speech that ultimately restores peace; Bear!Elinor helps Merida out a lot by Miming the Cues. Merida even channels her mother a bit when she strides in like she owns the place and everyone stops fighting.

Hunk: The only guy Merida seems impressed with at all, if only because of his sheer size, is a guy who looks like this. Too bad he's not really Lord Dingwall's son. Also, that guy ends up being interested in Maudie, the maid.

Informed Ability: We're told that Fergus, the clan lords and their heirs are great warriors who won great battles against Vikings. What we see of their combat abilities mostly consists of mosh pit antics and getting flung around by bears. Maybe they're rusty.

Intimate Artistry: At the start of the film, Queen Elinor is sewing a family tapestry of herself, King Fergus, and their daughter Merida. Merida splits the tapestry with a sword when she and Elinor fight, symbolizing their conflict and separation, and she stitches it back together when she is attempting to repair their relationship.

I Resemble That Remark!: A self-inflicted case: a frustrated Elinor complains to Fergus that Merida inherited her stubbornness from him. Oh, really, Elinor?

It Tastes Like Feet: Believing that Merida baked the enchanted cake, Elinor tries to be polite about how it tastes, describing it as "tart..and then gamey".

Jaw Drop: The triplets, along with the mounted deer head they were playing with, upon seeing Bear!Elinor for the first time.

Just Hit Him: Mor'du often chooses to only throw the huntsmen away instead of using his paws for much more devastating attacks. Given that the only person he really wants killed is himself, this makes sense in retrospect.

Last-Second Word Swap: When Merida sees the witch's broom move by itself, the witch assures her she's mistaken: "You can't magically imbue wooden objects with life, and I should know, I'm a wi— a whittler. Of wood."

Late-Arrival Spoiler: The trailers and official website go to great pains to hide a number of details about the plot, but the toyline and at least a handful of pins (including one for Father's Day) are quite clear about the fact that Elinor and the boys are turned into bears.

Le Parkour: Right before Merida's day out on horseback, she does a couple of very traceur-like moves, which underscores her athleticism.

Lessons in Sophistication: The film shows us Merida's impatience with her princess lessons and her clear preference for archery and horseback riding. However, her indifference is shown as somewhat immature, with the movie going to some lengths to help her see her mother's side of things.

This happens at the end of the movie as a symbol of how much Elinor has changed.

In the tapestry Elinor works on, Merida is shown with her hair in a neat braid, her head under a coif — completely unlike the wild mane we see her sporting. This also happens when Elinor forces Merida's hair under a coif to present her to the heads of the clans; it's bulging out under the cloth and Merida performs a minor version of this trope by tugging out a lock of her fringe to hang in front of her face as a minor act of rebellion. However, Merida's hair is portrayed as wild and curly in the new tapestry Elinor and Merida sew together at the end of the film, showing, again, how Elinor's opinion of her daughter has changed considerably.

Licensed Game: Which follows a very different plot involving Merida travelling across the land to cleanse all the waystones corrupted by Mor'du in order to break the curse on her mother.

Loophole Abuse: The first-born of every clan competes for Merida's hand in a contest of her choosing. Merida's the first-born of her clan, and is really good at archery. She uses these facts to her advantage. (It ends up being pretty pointless, since, despite the fact that Merida won the competition, her mother invokes Rule Zero essentially telling her "tough luck", though she later invokes Rule Zero in favor of breaking tradition.)

The Lost Woods: The woods outside the town are home to a witch and spirits and an old abandoned castle.

Merida is joined by a bear in her quest — it's loyal because she's her now-cursed mother.

Angus the horse, even when he doesn't agree with Merida.

M-P

Made of Iron: Everyone who fights Mor'du and doesn't die, especially Fergus. Even with a broken peg leg, he still tries to take him on, and survives being hurled against a huge rock at full speed without any noticeable injuries. Mor'du himself is peppered with scars and broken arrows from old encounters.

Man Bites Man: Wee Dingwall, of all people, does bite Lord Macintosh during the Bar Brawl scene, which certainly makes him look like a berserker.

Man in a Kilt: Justified as the setting is the Scottish Highlands from where the kilt originated, albeit about 800 years too early.

Marriage Before Romance: Elinor mentions at one point that she and Fergus were betrothed. Despite her admitting she had misgivings at first (this is news to her husband), they are very happy together now.

Match Cut: In the epilogue, the shot of Fergus throwing one of the naked triplets in the air becomes him catching him clothed back at Castle DunBroch.

During a huge fight between Elinor and Merida, Elinor tosses Merida's bow in the fire. Merida leaves the castle in tears. When she hears the bowstring snap from the burning, Elinor suddenly realizes what she's done and desperately tries to dig it out of the fire before it's destroyed. Elinor holds the singed bow, her daughter's most prized possession nearly destroyed by her own hand, and collapses to the floor in tears. Before that, if you listen closely, you can hear her whisper, "What have I done?"

Later in the movie, Elinor gets it again when she snaps out of acting like a bear, only to discover that she's hurt not only her daughter, but also Fergus.

The latter half of the movie is one long case of this for Merida herself, as she fully realises what her own actions through the movie have brought to everyone and herself.

Naked People Are Funny: The result of the clans climbing down from the top of the roof using their kilt cloths as a makeshift ladder is indeed comical.

This Japanese trailer tries really, really hard to make this movie into Pixar's Princess Mononoke by implying the renegade prince and Merida broke "the law of the forest." The only similarity to Princess Mononoke/Studio Ghibli films is a female protagonist, the wisps/forest spirits in appearance, and a forest setting.

The trailers never seemed to meet a middle ground on what the film was truly about:

Some of the trailers try to play up the "epic adventure" aspects of the story by focusing on natural panoramas, shots of Merida wandering through the wilderness, and taglines about taking journeys. In reality the farthest that Merida ever travels is to the witch's cottage (which isn't even that far from the castle), and there's far less action in the movie that the trailer seems to suggest. The bulk of the story is about Merida's conflict with her mother.

Some of the trailers emphasized Shrek-like slapstick, subversive humor (in the form of setting up for something epic and grandiose and making a lowbrow joke out of it for laughs), and comedy rather than the personal story of mother and daughter that it is. Some Christmas DVD advertising used almost every single appearance by the triplets getting up to mischief, plus a few token shots of Merida, to make it look like a "girl struggles to babysit her tearaway siblings" movie.

No Peripheral Vision: When Elinor as a bear sneaks into the crowded ballroom by backing against the wall and tip-toeing, Merida distracts everyone by having them focus on her. No one  not even those who face her  notice Elinor moving around in her large form and occasionally even actively waving to draw Meridas attention, even though she should be in their cone of vision. The only person who gets suspicious is a guard who has his back to the wall and even he believes her to be a stuffed bear when she poses as one. Even King Fergus, who has it out bad for any bear, and was facing in that direction, fails to see her.

Not This One, That One: Merida and her parents assume the big strong guy Lord Dingwall is pointing at is his son (and one of her possible suitors), when he's really pointing at the scrawny kid hiding behind him.

Plot Parallel: Mor'du's backstory mirrors the one of Merida and her mother only that he did not choose as wisely and ended up locked in his bear form.

Poor Communication Kills: After Merida and her mother understand what has happened, Merida couldve conspicuously drawn her father aside and told him just what had happened so that he would not freak out and that nobody would unintentionally cause harm. Instead, they choose the option of first trying to hide and then outright escaping the castle  the place with greatest safety potential for them given that they were its rulers.When they have to get back inside the castle after escaping, once again they choose to try and sneak in on their own and (again) not tell Fergus anything beforehand. Finally when Fergus does locate them in the castle, the only thing Merida tells him is a meaningless drivel  right until its already too late to convince him of anything and prevent him from making any dramatic bad decisions. It's all somewhat justified in that Fergus doesn't believe in magic and might have simply gone ballistic sooner, but that the two never even discuss this is still bad.

Primal Scene: Downplayed at the end of the movie, when Merida witnesses her father and naked mother kissing fairly passionately in front of her. Oooops.

Protector Behind Bars: Near the climax, Fergus locks Merida in the tapestry room to protect her from a bear who he thinks killed Elinor. However, said bear he and the lords are trying to kill is Elinor, and Merida already has attempted to convince her father, but he doesn't believe in magic. With Merida locked up and stuck in the tapestry room, she is helples and unable to aid her mother.

Reality Ensues: Merida thinks her Loophole Abuse during the contest will save her from marriage which is usually what happens when a character finds a loophole in fantasy. She actually makes everything worse. She pisses her mother off so badly that they get into a huge fight which results in Elinor burning Merida's bow and Merida running away, and her humiliation of the clans' sons brings everyone to the brink of war.

Resignations Not Accepted: Merida was born a princess, therefor she is obligated to learn the diplomatic and ceremonial duties of a future queen (or at least a noble's wife, should one of her brothers rule instead), and steel herself for a future political marriage. She can't opt out since her parents (especially her mother) won't let her.

Revenge Before Reason: Fergus, who is so set on bringing down Mor'du, and later the bear he thinks killed his wife, that he won't listen to Merida trying to tell him the bear is his wife. In his defense, it's a bit much to believe out of nowhere.

Royals Who Actually Do Something: The royal family of DunBroch qualifies as a whole: Elinor is shown in the opening meal scene receiving letters of many sorts, thus implying she is the one handling matters of state. Merida is being trained by Elinor to fill her shoes someday but she has fighting skills from her father. Said father, Fergus, was explicitly chosen as their king after he led the other clans to victory against invading Vikings and whether it's evil monster bears or invading armies he takes care of it. Even the toddler triplets are crafty tricksters capable of distracting an entire castle to prevent diplomatic incidents. The other clan leaders and their heirs are also involved in the kingdom's defense.

Rube Goldberg Device: The witch uses such a contraption to activate her Magic Cauldron the second time Merida visits her hut. She's not present to do it herself after all.

To Finding Nemo: Aside from the "rebellious child and strong-willed parent learn to appreciate each other after a crisis" plot, there's Bear!Elinor's pupils widening into Black Eyes Of Animal-ity when she becomes a "real" bear, just like Bruce the great white shark's eyes go black when he goes into feeding frenzy-mode.

The shot of The eldest of the four princes with a human body and Mor'du's head is a reference to Porco Rosso.

In a moment of frustration, Merida shouts out "Jings, crivvens, help ma Boab!", a trio of catchphrases from beloved Scottish comic strip Oor Wullie.

Merida sabotages a competition where she is the prize by entering said competition herself. Her fellow Rebellious Princess Calla of Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears did the exact same thing in the episode "Girl's Knight Out." Calla's tournament also included an archery portion (although it also had others).

Merida must have been taking archery lessons from Robin Hood, their style, skills, and even their winning tournament shots are very similar.

Shown Their Work: According to this article, the mistakes made by Merida's suitors in the archery contest are all legitimate errors inexperienced archers can make.

ACXIII. note Hint, it's a Roman Numeral version of A113, a common Pixar Easter Egg.

The Stinger: Merida arranged to buy all the witch's woodcarvings if she got some magical help. As promised, after the credits they are delivered to the castle by the crow — to the surprise of the guard ("Sign here, please").

Symbolically Broken Object: The tapestry Merida slices in anger explicitly represents the broken bond between her and her mother. Later, we see a carving of the four princes that has been similarly broken.

Take My Hand: Bear Elinor tries to do this to Merida as an attempt to save her daughter from the evil bear Mor'du. It works.

Talking Animal: The witch's crow is implied to be her familiar because it can talk.

The Tape Knew You Would Say That: The facsimile the witch leaves behind for Merida in the cauldron rolls its eyes in exasperation and repeats itself when Merida fails to understand the cryptic advice.

Tears of Remorse: Elinor sheds these after destroying Merida's bow. After Merida runs out of the room in tears, Elinor realises what she's done as the bowstring snaps in the fire, digs it out, but sees it has been ruined and breaks down sobbing.

Tempting Fate: When Merida tries to sneak her Bear Elinor out of the castle, she notes that "It's not like anyone's gonna see you!". Cue the father and his men coming up the stairs.

Theme Music Power-Up: Merida displays some awesome mounted archery skills when "Touch the Sky" starts playing in the background.

Those Two Guys: A pair of castle maids, usually seen with Maudie, don't have any other characterization.

Thrifty Scot: Downplayed when Merida chooses to open King Fergus's private reserves after telling the clans of Dingwall, MacGuffin, and Macintosh that their sons should be able to choose love for themselves in due time, and Fergus decides to use the small drinking vessels.

Time to Step Up, Commander: With only a modicum of sign coaching from her mother, Merida manages to pacify the tribes about to declare war on one another over her unwillingness to go through with the Arranged Marriage. It helps that that the heirs of the tribes aren't keen on the union either, as clearly stated by Young MacGuffin.

As beautiful as the "Mother's Day" trailer is, the trailer may have given away a few of the ending shots of the film at the tail end of it.

Some other trailers and in-movie shots also shows Merida walking with, saving or jumping to the rescue of a bear, which is pretty spoilerish when the first trailers shows the main antagonist, or one of the main antagonists, of the movie to be a giant grizzly. Apparently sources have already revealed the smaller, more timid looking bear that's seen with Merida to be her transformed mother.

Several movie tie-in books were released before the movie itself, too. Naturally, reading them spoils the whole plot of the movie.

A toy commercial also completely spoiled the bear transformation.

The movie is being distributed with trailers for a video game that offer minor spoilers.

True Blue Femininity: Elinor tries to invoke this with Merida before and during the contest by making her wear a tight turquoise dress. Merida doesn't take it well, preferring her darker and less restrictive dark blue dress.

Elinor [repairing the tapestry]: Merida, all this work, all the time spent preparing you, schooling you, giving you everything we never had. I ask you, what do you expect us to do? Merida [in the stables]: Call off the gathering! Would that kill them? You're the queen. You can just tell the lords the princess is not ready for this. In fact, she might not ever be ready for this, so that's that. Good day to you. We'll expect your declarations of war in the morning. Elinor: I understand this must all seem unfair. Even I had reservations when I faced betrothal. But we can't just run away from who we are. Merida: I don't want my life to be over. I want my freedom! Elinor: But are you willing to pay the price your freedom will cost? Merida: I'm not doing any of this to hurt you. Elinor: If you could just try to see what I do, I do out of love. Merida: But it's my life, it's... I'm just not ready. Elinor: I think you'd see, if you could just... Merida: I think I could make you understand if you would just... Elinor: Listen. Merida: Listen.

Was Once a Man: Mor'du, having asked for the strength of ten men, seems to have taken heartily to his new identity as a monster bear.

When All You Have Is a Hammer...: The witch's bear motif is noticeably prevalent in all her professional dealings. The only spell she seems to know is turning people into bears.

"Where? Where?": In the scene where Elinor turns into a bear; Merida screams, Elinor turns and sees a bear's shadow on the wall, and attempts to shield Merida with her body because she hasn't realised yet that she is the bear.

White and Gray Morality: Both due to the main focus of the story being a mother-daughter conflict where both have their reasons, and the villain per se being a wild animal — though a vicious one who used to be human, and is implied to regret his actions there aren't any reall black morality villains in this piece.

Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: At one point Mor'du has a completely defenceless Merida at his mercy, and yet he only drags time and roars at her until Elinor can enter the fight and save her daughter. This is implied to be the point since Mor'du is a Death Seeker.

Will-o'-the-Wisp: The Wisps appear as glowing blue lights and apparently have the power to lead people to their fate and encourage them to change it. They are based on Scottish lore of will o' the wisps that lead people to treasure or doom. At the end of the movie, it's shown that they are actually ghosts.

Wimp Fight: Young McIntosh and Wee Dingwall fight another in such a way during the throne room brawl.

Winged Soul Flies Off at Death: Mor'du's ghost, in human form, rises regally from the corpse of his crushed ursine body, nods respectfully to Merida and her mother and then vanishes.

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